Structured light is a new frontier in optics because it can be programmed across multiple degrees of freedom—amplitude, phase, spatial patterns, frequency, and polarization. Yet in practice, generating and controlling such light still often relies on bulky, alignment-sensitive optical setups. Researchers led by Prof. Hongtao Lin at Zhejiang University (ZJU), China, have introduced a unified inverse-design method to bring vectorial structured light onto a chip, using topological valley photonic crystals. Their tiny couplers show ultra-low loss and broad bandwidth at telecom wavelengths, offering a practical route to compact photonic chips for communications, sensing, and quantum technologies.

POSTECH Professor Seung-Ki Min’s Research Team Compares Future Extreme Fire Weather Under ‘Net-Zero’ vs. ‘Net-Negative’ Emission Scenarios.

A study published in Biochar reports a sustainable strategy for improving zinc-iodine batteries by turning biomass-derived materials into a functional coating for battery separators. The research team developed a nitrogen and phosphorus co-doped porous carbon, made from chitin and phytic acid, that helps address several major barriers facing zinc-iodine battery technology, including poor iodine utilization, polyiodide “shuttling,” slow reaction kinetics, and zinc dendrite growth.

Protecting old-growth forests significantly boosts soil physical–biochemical quality, dissolved organic matter chemodiversity, and beneficial mycorrhizal fungi, offering a proven pathway to safeguard endangered Ocotea porosa and mitigate climate change.

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting, particularly self-biased PEC systems, holds great promise for solar energy utilization. However, the limited transparency of most photoelectrodes presents challenges in fabricating tandem photoelectrodes with photovoltaic (PV) cells for self-biased water splitting. Herein, a novel self-biased hybrid system integrating photoelectrodes (TiO₂, BiVO₄), beam splitters (BSs), and PV cell was proposed to enhance solar energy utilization and PEC water splitting performance. The results indicate that the integration of BSs significantly improves the current densities of both self-biased PV-PEC systems and single PEC systems. The current density of self-biased water splitting system with BSs exceeds that of the conventional TiO₂ + BVO-PV system, and the intersection point of the I–V curves for the photoanodes and solar cell is closer to the maximum power output of the solar cell. The effective utilization of the solar spectrum by both the photoelectrode and the PV cell in the hybrid system with BSs significantly increases the power output by a factor of 18.8 compared to the conventional tandem self-biased system. The predicted results indicate that the hydrogen production rate of the system with BSs is 12.1 µmol/(h·cm²), while the STH efficiency is enhanced by a factor of 12.38 and 19.87 compared to conventional TiO₂ + BVO-PV and TiO₂/BVO-PV tandem PV-PEC systems, respectively, demonstrating the advantage of the water splitting system with spectral BSs. In conclusion, this work provides an innovative approach of achieving self-biased water splitting by coupling spectral BSs with a PV-PEC system, resulting in improved solar energy harvesting efficiency.

A review highlights how modified biochar can capture and break down humic acid, a key precursor of harmful disinfection byproducts in drinking water treatment

Researchers at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) have developed a dual-defect suppression strategy, achieving record-breaking luminescence in lead-free quantum materials, opening new possibilities for advanced optoelectronic applications. Lead-free perovskite nanomaterials are regarded as safer and more environmentally friendly alternatives for next-generation optoelectronic devices. However, tin halide perovskite nanocrystals have suffered from poor luminescence. Prof. Jun YIN, Assistant Professor of the Department of Applied Physics at PolyU, has addressed this challenge through computationally guided dual-defect suppression strategy, achieving a record photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQYs) of 42.4%, more than 80 times higher than previous reports.

Modern communication networks must handle ever‑growing volumes of data, driven by cloud services, connected devices, and real‑time applications. At the same time, they face a critical constraint: keeping energy consumption as low as possible. Today, signal recovery and data processing rely mostly on electronic hardware—powerful, but energy‑intensive and increasingly limited by latency. 

To address these challenges, researchers in Roberto Morandotti’s laboratory at the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) have developed a new device that enables optical artificial intelligence, where data is processed using light rather than electronics, enabling high speed and low energy consumption.  

A global analysis of field experiments suggests that biochar, a carbon-rich material made by heating organic biomass with limited oxygen, can significantly increase soil microbial biomass carbon, an important indicator of soil health and biological activity.